Bergesen on his outing

Orioles starter Brad Bergesen allowed two runs on eight hits over five innings this afternoon against the Rays. His line was much improved from his previous spring performances and Bergesen was happy with his progression overall this spring.

Here’s what he had to say about the outing.

[on how he felt]“I was much more pleased with how I worked my fastball. More down in the zone, when I was missing, I was missing down rather than up, right over the plate. That was positive. The slider wasn’t there for me. Need to work on it. I talked to [pitching coach Mark Connor] afterward and there are a couple adjustments we want to make with that but as far as overall feeling, I felt better with the previous adjustments I made. My mechanics felt a little more natural today.”

[on it being a relief to see a better line]“Absolutely. Early on, I think some of you guys stressed a little bit (with the results), but it really is getting our work in early on. Not worried about the results, not panicking, but as we do get closer to the season, like we are, for me it is nice to have the results there and to try to keep going now into the season and carry that through.”

[on retiring Manny Ramirez to end the fifth with the bases loaded] “That’s a test I would always like to pass there. The guy is a future Hall of Famer. Again, it is only spring training, you are not too excited or, if things don’t go right, you are not too down. But to get in that situation and do damage control early, like I did, and getting in a situation like that and being able to get out of it, could help confidence at this point.”

Here’s what manager Buck Showalter had to say about Bergesen…

“He had some counts in his favor and couldn’t quite finish it off,” Showalter said. “He had 0-2 count, two outs and nobody on and gave up one and borderline two runs. I’d like to see, when he gets himself in some good counts, and not necessarily strike the guy out, but make a quality pitches.

There were some firm balls hit off him today. Hopefully, we’re getting there. I thought his plane was a little better. I’ve seen him more crisp, which is normal. He’ll get the ball at least a couple more times and we’ll see where we are with it.”

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